I cant think for myself.

[Queen Firey-Bou]

hey i have no objection to picking the grapes, wouldnt it be nice if those of us who did were also allowed to drink the champagne, or even grape juice, or even semi-rancid water that they soaked in?

yup the revolution will be coming just as soon as i get anywhere near peeking out from the poverty trap rut, too busy digging to wield a kalashnakov.

& isnt it ironic that its the pov's among us who, thru lack of choice, become the main consumers of cut price crap that keeps other people in sweat shops & keep the NHS waiting lists so long.

Bou, munching on a dinner of a quarter of a 99p pizza by way of un-healthy illustration. Grud bless capitalism & the 'free' west.

[Smiley]

It might smell a bit but...

A comic shop that smells bad? H'mm. Do they stock porn?

[Matt Timson]

Ah... so you'll be taking the third option (denial) then Dud?

I'll see if I can answer your personal and totally unfounded attack tomorrow.  In the meantime, try taking your head out of the ground and reading my posts properly.

Matt

[Queen Firey-Bou]

hey Johnny! never mind the revolution... i miss your eyebrow icon, this dark things far too enigmatic. i demand the campaign for the quirky eyebrow starts here !

and while were on personal attacks, GC your moustash is too big, dudley you sound like a short crap actor who died of brain mush disease.

ahhhhhh and relax.

[Dudley]

Johny-
Looking forward to reading your retort but am off on holiday for a week so don't take silence as defeat!  Wasn't meant as a personal attack.  I really dislike your views but I'm sure you're a lovely person.
Yours,

A short crap actor.  Who died of brain disease.  But was pretty damn good in "Arthur".

[judge dreddd]

this is now WAY OFF topic... to clear things up... new thread called the revolution will be created by me...move along...

[Matt Timson]

Well now, Dudley.  This response irritates me on so many levels that it's hard to know where to begin- so let's just start with the most obvious and work our way along.

First of all, I'd be interested to know where it was I said that I'd never buy trainers from ethical traders.  It might not seem like much- but as you seem to have based my entire personality and social status around this single, made up fact- I think it might be worthy of an answer.  Let's see now...  Being self employed and therefore not eligable for state support and having previously worked in various call centres, shops and factories (all before the introduction of a minimum wage, I might add), just how often do you think I might have seen the wrong side of the breadline?

You know *nothing* of my attitude, Dudley- mainly because you know nothing about me.  You have no idea what my politics are about, so how can you tell me that I want to argue you around to my way of thinking?  I've thrown in a few fairly obvious observations, but I've yet to tell you or anyone else which side of those observations I actually sit on.

Did I say that the people who marched against the war were stupid or wrong?  Did you even think to ask if I was one of them?  I didn't say that they shouldn't have marched, only that it made no difference and that it was never going to make any difference.

I'd rather have a "starved and hopeless view of the world" (which I don't, by the way- I just open my eyes and look around once in a while), than delude myself into thinking that life is so great here "because of the efforts of millions of individuals to help themselves and those around them" (and if you'd bothered to read my posts properly, you'd realise that I had already addressed this issue and pointed out that people in the third world would laugh at our complaints).  What absolute toss.  We live the way we do at the expense of others.  Tell me, Dud- do you buy ethical jeans to go with your ethical trainers?  Do you watch TV, go to the pub, connect to the internet?  Do you use gas?  Electricity?  Drive a car or sit on a bus?  How about your bank?  Do they give you a good rate?

You are part of a system designed to keep most of the world poor, Dudley- that's the only point I'm trying to make.  You cannot conduct your day to day life and business without contributing to the system- it's as simple as that.  It's not your fault and you can't do anything about it- although I would be interested to hear all that *you* know about ethical trade goods.  Quite honestly, I'm not going to lose any sleep over whether or not you dislike my views- especially as you don't really seem to understand them very well- but I'm f*cked if I'll be judged by somebody who can't even be bothered to read what I've written properly and then makes stuff up to make me look worse.

Before you say anything else remarkably stupid about my blaming the world's woes on the politicians and money men, you might want to go away and do some research on exactly why it is that one billion people control the wealth of six billion.  Either way, neither you nor I have the power to do anything about it.  You want to buy ethical trade trainers for an extra tenner?  Good for you.  I'll see your trainers and raise you the five hundred and forty pounds that went out of my account to various charities last year.  It went out monthly, via direct debit- whether I'd had a good month or two bad months in a row.  What a bad person I must be...

To sum up:  You took my tramp analogy and assumed that I meant live like a tramp or do nothing at all, when what I actually said was that living as a tramp really is the only way you can live in this country and not contribute to the system.  I'm not condemning anybody within the system, nor am I condemning those who would like to work against it.  I'm certainly not going to condemn those that feel better for doing their 'bit'- I'm merely pointing out that in this country, marching doesn't change a thing.

Enjoy your holiday- I'll be on mine by the time you get back, so this could take some time to resolve.  Would you like me to tell you why it is that we're able to take cheap holidays abroad, or do you think you can work it out for yourself?

[Dudley]

Putting my answer over to "Revolution" thread.

[Tex Hex]

Christ.

Guess what I didnt just read? Yup, that whopping great personal politics post above! One word - "comics"....

[Matt Timson]

I'm crushed.  No, really...

I've got two words for you, Hex- the second one being "off".

[Tex Hex]

My my. You CAN show restraint...

[paulvonscott]

I think hex has got a point to be honest.

Nothing wrong with normal rational discussion.  But it doesn't take much to turn them messy (tell me about it).

This post has been dragged off topic, poor Jared still probably doesn't know what to do with his life.

[Oddboy]

If JK's wise then he will have learnt not to be a polititian.

[paulvonscott]

"My my. You CAN show restraint..."

YOU there boy!  Less of the uneccesary taunting!

[Tex Hex]

Heh. Sorry about that.